Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso V of Aragon (1396-27 June 1458), also known as Alfonso I of Naples, was the King of Aragon, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica from 1416 to 1458 (after Ferdinand I of Aragon, before Juan II of Aragon) and King of Naples from 1442 to 1458. Alfonso V took over Naples after a long war of conquest from 1421 to 1446, in which he crushed the House of Anjou and conquered Naples, which became his fief. He was the first king to unite Sicily and Naples together, and they would remain together for eternity.

Biography
Alfonso de Trastamara was born in Medina del Campo in Valladolid, part of western Central Spain. He was the son of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor de Albuquerque. Trastamara inherited the throne of Araogn and Sicily in 1416 after the death of his father, and by the 1420s he had conquered his claims of Sardinia and Corsica from the Republic of Genoa. In 1421, Queen Joan II of Naples namer him as her heir, and he hired condotierro Braccio da Montone to put down Luigi III of Naples, who was a member of the House of Anjou. Aragon fought against the condotierro Muzio Sforza, who was aided by Pope Martin V; Alfonso sided with Antipope Benedict XIII in return, and soon, Sforza backed down from aiding Luigi. Alfonso then had a breakdown in relations with Joan, and in 1423 he lost the Battle of Castel Capuano, his Aragonese militia losing to Neapolitan soldiers.

Soon, Sforza rejoined Naples and Joan and Sforza withdrew to Aversa, a fortress. They were joined by the Duchy of Milan, led by Filippo Maria Visconti, and Alfonso V had to return to Spain to stop a war with the Kingdom of Castile. The Milanese fleet captured the coastal cities of Gaeta, Procida, Castellammare, and Sorrento on the Neapolitan coastline in 1423, and Alfonso' brother Pedro de Aragon fled to Sicily as Naples fell in August 1424. Gianni Caracciolo became the new leader of Naples, but he was killed in a conspiracy in 1432. By 1435, Queen Joan and Luigi were dead, and Rene I of Naples took power. He allied with France, and the nominal lord of Naples, Pope Eugene IV, allied with Alfonso against the French and Neapolitans. At the Second Battle of Ponza, Alfonso was captured in a sea battle with Milan, but he convinced Milan that they would not gain anything in stopping Aragon from conquering Naples, and they let him go.

In February 1436, Alfonso and a Sicilian fleet conquered Gaeta and he made the city his capital. He bribed Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi to retreat with his Papal forces, but in September 1438, Alfonso's siege of Naples failed and Pedro de Aragon was killed. Castel Nuovo fell to Angevin mercenaries in August 1439, but when condotierro Jacopo Caldora of Naples died, Alfonso reduced Rene's base down to Abruzzi and Naples. The Pope gave Rene 10,000 troops, but the cardinal was bribed and the army disintegrated. Giovanni Sforza led a reduced corps to aid Naples, with his father's army being held back in the Marche region. From 10 November 1441 to 26 February 1443, Naples was under siege, and Alfonso captured the city. In 1446 he conquered Sardinia from Genoa, and he submitted to the Papal States. Because of his humbleness, he was allowed to confer the title of King of Naples upon his son Ferrante once he died. He died in 1458 while planning the conquest of Genoa.